No abstract

Increasing global populations and decreasing sources of nutrients to feed them, has necessitated the drive for alternative and more sustainable sources of nutrients. Such alternatives should contribute to meet the demand for food and minimise negative effects on the environment. Edible insects, which have been traditionally part of human diets, stand out as the most probable and sustainable alternative. Silkmoth pupae, by-products of the sericulture sector are among the traditional foods consumed in Asia. In this study we determined the nutritional composition, phytochemical contents, and antioxidant activities of freeze-dried pupae from 2 domesticated and 3 wild silkmoth species. Our results showed that both Bombyx mori L. and Samia cynthia ricini Boisduval pupae had the highest amounts of proteins, 78.9 and 76.0 mg bovine serum albumin equivalents /g, respectively. Significantly high amounts of lipids (26.7%) were observed in B. mori pupae. Domesticated silkworm species recorded significantly high amounts of protein compared to the wild species. In addition, all silkmoth pupae had substantial amounts of phytochemicals that varied significantly between the studied species. We further demonstrated that all pupae samples exhibited antioxidant activities for both 50% methanolic and 100% hexane extracts, at very low concentrations of 2.5 and 30 mg/ml, respectively, with Anaphe panda pupae samples recording the highest activities. The multivariate analysis confirmed significant differences in the chemical composition of silkmoth pupae between species and type of diet they consume. Therefore, our findings suggest that the studied silkmoth pupae are rich alternative source of nutrients and natural antioxidants.

Increasing global populations and decreasing sources of nutrients to feed them, has necessitated the drive for alternative and more sustainable sources of nutrients. Such alternatives should contribute to meet the demand for food and minimise negative effects on the environment. Edible insects, which have been traditionally part of human diets, stand out as the most probable and sustainable alternative. Silkmoth pupae, by-products of the sericulture sector are among the traditional foods consumed in Asia. In this study we determined the nutritional composition, phytochemical contents, and antioxidant activities of freeze-dried pupae from 2 domesticated and 3 wild silkmoth species. Our results showed that both Bombyx mori L. and Samia cynthia ricini Boisduval pupae had the highest amounts of proteins, 78.9 and 76.0 mg bovine serum albumin equivalents /g, respectively. Significantly high amounts of lipids (26.7%) were observed in B. mori pupae. Domesticated silkworm species recorded significantly high amounts of protein compared to the wild species. In addition, all silkmoth pupae had substantial amounts of phytochemicals that varied significantly between the studied species. We further demonstrated that all pupae samples exhibited antioxidant activities for both 50% methanolic and 100% hexane extracts, at very low concentrations of 2.5 and 30 mg/ml, respectively, with Anaphe panda pupae samples recording the highest activities. The multivariate analysis confirmed significant differences in the chemical composition of silkmoth pupae between species and type of diet they consume. Therefore, our findings suggest that the studied silkmoth pupae are rich alternative source of nutrients and natural antioxidants.

No abstract

Abstract:In recent years, numerous actions for sustainable exploitation of forest resources have been undertaken, but few deal with commercialization of forest insects. Several tree based insect products, like wild silk, can be linked with forest conservation activities to provide livelihood services of different economic scales to forest dependent people. African wild silkmoth, Argema mimosae Boisduval, is one of the forest insects, a moth in the family of Saturniidae producing wild silk, but there is need for definite procedures for extracting silk fibre from its cocoons. This study evaluated physical characteristics of the A. mimosae cocoons and outlined a procedure to extract viable silk fibre for use in silk industry. Cocoons of the A. mimosae were collected from natural forest of Arabuko-Sokoke, Kenya (3°20′ S, 39°55′ E), and others obtained by semi-captive rearing of the silkmoth larvae. The cocoons of A. mimosae were described to be silvery in colour, tough and thick with distinctive perforations on the surface and a prominent valve-like opening with loose filaments at one end. The study recorded 120 min as the optimum boiling time for the cocoons to yield silvery brown silk floss using sodium carbonate (Na 2 CO 3 ) as the degumming agent. Cocoons boiled in distilled water could not be deflossed into floss, but remained hard and intact, as compared with those of the control, Bombyx mori. This reveals that A. mimosae cocoons can be processed for natural silk fibre production and offer communities adjacent to forests an excellent opportunity to engage in production of natural wild silk.